The present invention relates generally to radio-frequency identification (RFID) readers and, more particularly, to secured RFID readers and systems and methods for authenticating the secured readers.
Systems, devices and methods for providing and obtaining product information by producers and consumers, respectively, are continuously being improved for their efficiencies, convenience and security. For instance, a producer may use a reader to scan an electronic label of a product, and upload product information of that product to a server. On the other end, a consumer may also use a reader to scan an electronic label of the same product, and retrieve the product information uploaded by the producer from the server. The security features for uploading and downloading product information are generally implemented in the electronic labels, laser labels, or quick response (QR) code, which the reader scans.
Methods as such, however, do not provide security features on the reader. Specifically, readers are not authenticated during information uploading or downloading process. As a result, an imitation of a reader may be designed to bypass the security features implemented in the electronic labels, laser labels or QR code, and upload false product information or illegally download product information. In other words, the conventional information uploading and downloading systems using readers are not secure.